Tensioning device



March 10, 1925. I 1,525,755

J. J. CARTER ET AL ,TENSIONING DEVICE Filed April 7, 1923 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 fflinessss [nu 17202-5 March 10, 1925. 1,528,755

I J. J. CARTER ET AL TENSIONING DEVICE Filed April 7, 1923 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Eg. if

March 10, 1925 JQJ. CARTER ET AL TENSIONING DEVICE Filed April 7, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 a l 6 #0 o o 4 w d r o 1 0 9 m 47 4 0 7 o 5 x 8 5 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 March 10, 1925.

.J. J. CARTER ET AL TENSIONING DEVICE Filed April 7, 1923 &

Patented Mar. 10, 1925.

PATENT OFFICE.

UNITED STATES JOHN J. CARTER AND ARTHUR MIL'INER, OI ANDERSON, INDIANA, ASSIGNOBS TO GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, OF DELAWARE.

ANDERSON, INDIANA, A CORPORATION OF 'rr-msronme DEVICE Application filed April 7, 192:. Serial no. 630,609.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, Jonn J. CARTER and ARTHUR MILTNER, citizens of the United States of America, residing at Anderson, county of Madison, State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improve- 1 apparatus parallel to the axis of the core.

One object of .this invention is to provide for maintain ng the wire, which -is unwound by means of a winding machine of the typereferred to, under substantially constant tension while there may be variations in the linear unwinding speed of the wire.

Further objects present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred embodiment of one orm of the invention is clearly shown.

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a tensioning device constructed in accordance with the present invention, and a winding machine with which it operates;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the tensioning device, some of the parts being shown in section for the sake of. clearness;

Figs. 3 and 4 taken together show a side view of the tensioning device;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4. I

The invention includes generally means for supporting a supply reel of wire, means for applying tension to the wire as it is being unwound from the supply reel by means of a winding machine of the type referred to, said tensioning means including provisions for maintaining substantially constant tension in the wire although the linear unwinding speed of the wire may vary.

Supply 'r'eeZ holder. A post 30 is attached to base 31 and supports bearings 32 and 33 lubricated by means of an oiler 34. On these bearin s is mounted a spindle 35 one end of w oh and advantages of the tion 64. Coil springs supports a reel of wire 36 indicated by dot and dash lines. Tapered sleeve 37- fits on spindle 35 and is adapted to clamp the core of reel 36, which is generally of wood against a plate 39, when the nut 38 is screwed along the spindle 35.

I Temom'ng device.

Plate 39 is secured to spindle 35 by means (if key 40 and is provided with brake drum A supporting bracket is, attached to post 30'by means of screws 46, and a brake "shoe 47 is pivot-ally mounted on bracket 45 by means of screw 48. A brake lining 49 adapted to engage with brake drum 41 is attached to brake shoe 47 by means of rivets 50. Brake shoe 47 is provided with a boss 52 which contacts with a plunger 53.

Guiding brackets 55 and 56 are attached to post 30 by means of screws 57 and pins 58. The upper end of rod 60 is reduced to fit within the plunger 53 which passes through guiding bracket 55 and en ages with boss 52. The central portion orod 60 is threaded as shown at 61 to receive adjusting nuts 62 and 63, and the lower end of sald rod 60 'passes through guiding bracket 56 and is provided with a flat porand 66 surround rod 60 and are located between the plunger 53 and adjusting nuts 62 and between ad'- justing nuts 63 and bracket 56 respectively. Spring 65 urges rod 60 upwardly and 66 urges plunger 53 upwardly, so that the brake is applied through the combined action of both springs.

Boss 70 on post 30 is provided with holes 71 on the opposite ends thereof either of which will receive a bolt 72 carrying a washer 73 which provides a pivotal mounting for lever 74. The provision of two holes 71 renders post 30 adaptable for either right orleft hand mounting of the brake shoe described heretofore. The portion 64 of rod carries pin 75 which. cooperates with the forked end of lever 74. The opposite end of lever 73 is provided with holes 76 to receive end of rod 77 and to permit of ad'ustment by providin different points 0 attachment for rod 7.

Pipe 80 is screwed into flange 81 which is bolted to base 31 by means of bolts 82. A bifurcated bracket 83 is reduced at its stem portion 84 to fit within pipe 80, and is seframe which correspond to cured thereto by means of pin 85. Branches 87 and 88 of bracket 83 support a rod 89, secured by pins 90, which provides pivot lever arms 95 and 96. The ends of these lever arms 95-and 96 nearest the real suprts are apertured to recei S-shaped h ooks 97 and 98, respectively. he opposite ends of the hooks 97 and 98 are connected with the up er ends of rods 99 and 100, which extend into cylinders 105 and 106 respectively. Each rod is provided with a lunger 107 engaged by coil spring 108.

pward movement of plungers 107 are limited by means of pins 109 attached thereto and operating in slots 110 formed mthe side walls of the cylinder 105 and 106 respectively.

The construction of parts enclosed bycylinder 106 is exactly the same as those within cylinder 105. Rods 77 and 78 are attached to the lower ends of the cylinders 105 and 106 respectively. The attachment of rod 77 to lever 74 has been described. Rod 78 is attached to a lever 74 pivoted on frame 30 and actuates parts identical with those actuated by lever 77. The parts on arts on frame 30 are desi ated by t e same reference number fol owed by the reference letter a. V

At the opposite ends of thelever arms 95 and 96 are mounted guiding wheels 115 and 116 respectively, provided with grooves 117 and 118 respectively. -Guard members 119 and 120 for the guiding'wheels 115 and 116 are attached to the lever arms 95 and 96 by means of screws 121 and 122.

Operation of tensz'om'n-g device. The tensioning device described is adapted to be used with a winding machine of the type disclosed in the copending application of Carter and Miltner, Serial No. 630,610, filed April 7, 1923. This machine comprises a base 130, to which base 31 is atta: hed by bolts 131, and a table 132 supporting electric motor 133 which drives a rotating head 134 mounted on shaft 135 through gearing not shown. Armature 136 is mounted between head 134 and block 137 resiliently/ urged toward head 134 and mounted on support 138. During winding operation, armature 36 is rotated at right angles to the axis of its shaft. The armature 136 is provided with a cylindrical core having winding slots extending substantially parallel to the axis of the core. Head 134 is located a substantial distance below the wheels 115 and 116, and is obliquely disposed relative to the planes of these wheels. The surface of the head is constructed so as to guide the wires into the armature .core slots.

The winding of wire upon an armature of the above type can be compared to winding upon an oblong block during which the linear speed of the winding of the wire will a celerate and decelerate intermittently. Therefore, in order to maintain the tension of the wire substantially constant at all times, the present invention may be used advantageously.

Wires 140 and 141 are led off the supply reels 36 and 36 and are passed through grooves 117 and 118 in guiding wheels 115 and 116 and are attached in anyconvenient manner to the armature 136. Rotation of head 134 and armature 136, will pull the wires 140 and 141 causing reels 36 and 36 to rotate. As the linear speed of the windmg of wires 140 and 141 rapidly accelerates, there will be a downward jerk exerted on guiding wheels 115 and 116, thus swingin the lever arms 95 and 96 on red 89 an causing the hooks 97 and 98 to move upwardly. This jerk is the result of the inertia drag exerted by the heavy supply reels.

When one of the arms, such as arm 96, 1s jerked downwardly the distance along the wire from the supply reel 36 to the winding machine is shortened thereby partly com cnsating for sudden acceleration in win ing speed. At the same time this arm .movement is used to release the brake pressure on drum 41 so that when the supply reel 36 is accelerated there will be a substantial decrease in friction drag to offset the inertia drag due to suddenl accelerating the heavy supply reel. The release of brake pressure is accomplished in the following manner:

The upward movement of hook 98 will actuate plunger 107 to compress spring 1'08 while causin the rod 78 to move u wardly. Lever 74 wifi ing rod 60 to move downwardly against the action of spring 65, thereby releasing tension of spring 66 against plunger 53. This will cause the pressure exerted by brake shot: 47 on brake surface 41 to be reduced and allow the supply reel of wire 36 to run with less friction drag to compensate for the increase in dra due to overcoming inertia of the reel and spindle whenever there is an acceleration of the linear winding speed of the wire.

WVhen the linear winding speed of the wires 140 and 141 detelerates, the downward pull on guiding wheels 115 and 116 and the tension on springs 108 will be relieved. Consequently the springs and 65 will be permitted to exert pressure upwardly through springs 66 and 66 to apply full brake pressure to the brake drums.

The downward movement of rods 61 does not relieve brake pressure entirely but this brake pressure is gradually reduced by gradually relieving compression in spring 66 while spring 65 is being further comrotate counterclockwlse causpressed by downward movement of rod 60. Downward movement of rod 60 is not effected jerkily in response tothe jerking of arm 96, but is more gradually effected by reason of the s ring connection between the arm 96 and r "60, namely, spring 108. The

, jerking movement of arm 96 causes spring much shorter range of travel.

108 which is relatively long to be compressed, thus cushioning the jerking efiect and causing the rod 60 to move through a Since the movement of rod 60 is short relative to the movement of arm 96, the spring 65 can be made relatively short and stifi because its elongation and compression is limited to a small amount.

The interposition of spring 108 causes the spring 60 to be compressed more gradually than if the lever 96 were directlyattached to lever 7 4 and therefore the braking action on a scale marked on the outside of barrel 105. The pointer is visible to the operator of the winding machine so that it can be observed whether the tension on both wires is uniform.

By adjusting nuts 62 and 63 the compression of springs 65 and 66 can be varied to change the brake pressure according to the size of wire or according to the diameter of the coil of wire on the supply reel. As the diameter of this coil decreases the brake pressure should be decreased. It is satisfactory to change the spring adjustment two or three times as wire is unwound from a full supply reel to the core of" the reel.

While the form of mechanism herein shown and described constitutes a preferred form of embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow:

1. In a wire tensioning device, the combination with spindle and a brake drum con-- nected therewith; of means for clamping a supply reel of wire to the spindle; a brake shoe; means for applying pressure to the shoe including a rod, a spring urging the rod towards the shoe, a spring for transmitting pressure from the rod to the shoe; and means responsive to acceleration in unreeling speed for moving said rod to compress the first spring and to relieve the second spring.

2. In a wire tensioning device, the combination with spindle and a brake. drum connected therewith; of means for :clamping a supply reel of wire to the spindle; a brake. shoe; means for ap lying pressure to the shoe including a 1'0 a spring urging the rod towards the shoe, a spring for transmitting pressure from the rod to the shoe;

bination with spindle and a brake drum connected therewith; of means for clamping a supply reel of wire to the spindle; a brake shoe; means for supplying pressure to the shoe including a rod, a spring urging the rod towards the shoe, a spring for transmittin pressure from the rod to the shoe; an means responsive to acceleration in unreeling speed for moving saidrod to compress the first spring and to relieve the second spring, said means including a movable member and a wire guide wheel mounted thereon whereby the jerking of a wire passing about said wheel will move said member, and means connecting said member with the rod.

4. In a wire tensioning' device, the combination with spindle and a brake drum connected therewith; of means for clamping a supply reel of wire to the spindle; a brake shoe; means for applying pressure to the shoe including arod, a spring urging the rod towards the shoe, a spring for transmitting pressure from the rod to the shoe; and means responsive to acceleration in un reeling speed for moving said rod to compress the first spring and to relieve the second spring, said means including a movable member and a wire guide wheel mounted thereon whereb jerking of the wire passing around said wl ieel will move the member, and a spring connection between said memher. and said rod.

initial compression of said springs.

6. In a wire tensiomng device, the combination with a base; of a vertically extending post mounted on the base; a spindle rotatably supported bv the post; means for securing a supply reel of wire to the spindle;

a brake drum connected with the spindle; a brake shoe mounted on the post and cooperatin with the underside of the drum' a vertica ly extending rod mounted on said post; a spring urging the rod toward the shoe; :1 spring transmitting pressure from the rodto the brake shoe; a lever connected with the rod and pivotally mounted on the post;

a. lever pivotally supported above the spindle; a wire ide wheel on said lever; and means mclu ing a spring connecting said levers whereb jerking the second lever will oorgpress the rst spring and relieve the secon In testimony whereof we hereto afi'ix our 15 signatures.

JOHN J. CARTER. ARTHUR MILTNER.

Witnesses: J. H. MCDONALD J UANELIS Jonnsom 

